Discover Magazine, in June 2012, published an excerpt from "The Social Conquest Of Earth" by Edward O. Wilson, who is one of the world's leading biologists. That was long before the march of Syrian refugees and a certain Presidential candidate's outspokenness about the immigrant invasion of an America with porous borders.
"Population can be controlled by predators, pathogens, or wars." However the ultimate limiting factor on any population of any life form is the food supply. If there is an abundance of nutrients, life forms will multiply. If there is a dearth, life forms will die off (or down), until sustainability is achieved.
If Wilson's analysis is correct, humans, chimpanzees, wolves, lions, birds will never welcome an influx of competitors for their (never limitless) natural resources. Perhaps, though Wilson does not say this, the Eurozone is an unnatural construct which will eventually fail.
Assuming that most science fiction is based on humans, (with human DNA and instincts inherited from Paleolithic ancestors), it is reasonable to build worlds and civilizations that either fight or succumb to pathogens, predators, and warfare.
Could there ever be a society that does not swing from one extreme to another? The citizens would either have to have tremendous self control, or they would have to lack some of the senses we enjoy. For instance, beings without taste buds might not enjoy eating. The food supply would last longer if no one ate more than absolutely necessary to avoid hunger pangs. But, that wouldn't stop over-breeding. Even when there is famine, people continue to breed (unlike rabbits.)
Preventing females from enjoying sex doesn't stop over-breeding. Assuming that reproduction is sexual, the stronger, more physically dominant gender would have to dislike sex, or at least be indifferent to it. That rules out romance in science fiction!
In "The Sparrow" there were strict rules, and third sons were not allowed to have sex, unless with other males or genetically incompatible other species. In "The Gods Themselves", it took three individuals to breed. Now, that's a better solution. It makes breeding more logistically challenging, which ought to slow the process, without necessarily banning romance, and yet providing more opportunities for sexual tension and conflict.
I've not said much about pathogens and predators. Mankind is pretty much the apex predator, at least on land, and mankindly ingenuity is constantly at work to conquer pathogens. Which means, wars are probably inevitable.
Rowena
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Speaking of rabbits, it would be a great help if human females could voluntarily reabsorb embryos when conditions aren't favorable for bearing or rearing young (as rabbits do involuntarily). Or if we were like kangaroos—holding an embryo in suspended animation until conditions are right for letting it mature enough to be born. (I've also often thought that marsupials have it so much easier, giving birth to a tiny infant and carrying it in a pouch rather than going through a long pregnancy and painful labor with a full-size baby.)
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of rabbits, it would be a great help if human females could voluntarily reabsorb embryos when conditions aren't favorable for bearing or rearing young (as rabbits do involuntarily). Or if we were like kangaroos—holding an embryo in suspended animation until conditions are right for letting it mature enough to be born. (I've also often thought that marsupials have it so much easier, giving birth to a tiny infant and carrying it in a pouch rather than going through a long pregnancy and painful labor with a full-size baby.)
ReplyDeleteMargaret, thank you for your comments about rabbits and kangaroos. Do you know of any authors who have written about aliens with such improvements?
ReplyDeleteI haven't come across any. However, one of my favorite books, WATERSHIP DOWN, almost reads as if it's about aliens -- it puts the reader within rabbit society and the rabbit mindset.
ReplyDeletehow do you prevent a female from enjoying sex? Maybe if they have it with me, but even then the law of averages says one just might enjoy it.
ReplyDelete